Accurate detection and complete shape extraction of sand-flies using Gaussian mixture model

This paper presents a method for the accurate detection of the positions of moving phlebotomenae (sand-flies), and the extraction of their complete shape. The proposed method is based on the background subtraction approach, with a statistical background model found using Gaussian mixture model. Furthermore, a method based on the maximization of interclass variance, is used to eliminate wings of the phlebotomenae and then detect accurately its position. Results are further used to study the behaviour of phlebotomenae, and subsequently, improve the traps to fight against many diseases transmitted by these insects, especially leishmaniasis. The experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm to accurately detect the position and extract the complete shape of moving phlebotomenaes even in case of very blurry ones.